Holidays and Routines

As I've mentioned in other places in this blog, I really like routine. I need routine for my daily chores and for my writing. And nothing breaks up the routines I cultivate better than a holiday.

I drove out to Calgary to visit my bro, stayed there for three days and then drove a rather circuitous route back which took about 20 hours. While I was there, I tried to maintain my writing schedule, but because of one thing (late nights) or another (food and booze), it didn't work out that well. I had a blast!

When I got back home, I tried to get into the routine right away. Unfortunately, a poor critique of a scene in my current novel (which, by the way, I knew was basically a badly timed info dump and needed re-writing) threw me into a bit of a slump. Falling out of the routine coupled with forgetting 'It's okay to suck' really doesn't help the motivation.

Time to stop the wallowing and get back to work!

About a month ago, I decided to try my hand at NaNoWriMo. I had an idea in the back of my head that I didn't want to work on until I finished Anshi, but the timing seemed right. So, I may not blog at all in November, or I may blog obsessively. I have no idea. I spoke to Marnie about it, and she was okay with the idea… even when I told her the house would likely be very messy, and supper would consist of plain rice for 30 days. Go me! For those that want to monitor my progress, I'll keep a running counter in the sidebar.

We had a visitor the last week or so, which is what enabled me to visit my brother. Marnie's Mom came over from Saskatchewan for a very nice visit. I tried to convince her to move in. I even told her I'd build an entire self-contained suite in the basement for her use. No go this time, but I think she's starting to weaken!